ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - February 13th
"FRIDAY THE 13TH" released in 2009
A young man sets out on a desperate quest to find his missing sister while a group of college students party in a secluded cabin discover that a masked killer known as Jason Vorhees is stalking the students to avenge his dead mother. Will they survive or will Jason get his revenge, in Marcus Nispel's remake of the cult horror slasher, Friday the 13th!
Don't miss out on future blogs, trailers, and clips IHdb has coming up
by Following IHdb's Facebook page above
by Following IHdb's Facebook page above
On June 13, 1980, a young Jason Voorhees (Caleb Guss) watches as his mother Pamela (Nana Visitor) is beheaded by a camp counselor (Stephanie Rhodes), who was trying to escape Mrs. Voorhees's murder spree around Camp Crystal Lake. Almost thirty years later, a group of friends - Wade (Jonathan Sadowski), Richie (Ben Feldman), Mike (Nick Mennell), Whitney (Amanda Righetti) and Amanda (America Olivo) - arrive at Crystal Lake on a camping trip to search for marijuana growing in the woods. That night, an adult Jason (Derek Mears), kills everyone except Whitney, whom he captures since she resembles his mother at a young age.
Six weeks later, Whitney's brother Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) arrives in Crystal Lake searching for his sister, distributing a missing poster with her picture to the locals. In a gas station, he stumbles into the arrogant Trent (Travis Van Winkle) who is taking his friends to his wealthy family's summer cabin, including; his girlfriend Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), Chelsea (Willa Ford), Bree (Julianna Guill), Chewie (Aaron Yoo), Nolan (Ryan Hansen), and Lawrence (Arlen Escarpeta). After a strange encounter with a local marijuana farmer Donnie (Kyle Davis) - who is later killed by Jason, now wearing his hockey mask - and a local Old Lady (Rosemary Knower) - who nonchalontly insists that anyone "missing 'round these parts" are actually already dead - Clay arrives at Trent's cabin, where Jenna (annoyed at Trent's behaviour) agrees to help him search for Whitney. Coming across the now abandoned Camp Crysal Lake, the pair encounter Jason but manage to narrowly escape. Unbeknownst to them, Jason is aware of their presence, having set a series of traps throughout the woods, and sets out in pursuit, determined to kill anyone who invades his territory!
Six weeks later, Whitney's brother Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) arrives in Crystal Lake searching for his sister, distributing a missing poster with her picture to the locals. In a gas station, he stumbles into the arrogant Trent (Travis Van Winkle) who is taking his friends to his wealthy family's summer cabin, including; his girlfriend Jenna (Danielle Panabaker), Chelsea (Willa Ford), Bree (Julianna Guill), Chewie (Aaron Yoo), Nolan (Ryan Hansen), and Lawrence (Arlen Escarpeta). After a strange encounter with a local marijuana farmer Donnie (Kyle Davis) - who is later killed by Jason, now wearing his hockey mask - and a local Old Lady (Rosemary Knower) - who nonchalontly insists that anyone "missing 'round these parts" are actually already dead - Clay arrives at Trent's cabin, where Jenna (annoyed at Trent's behaviour) agrees to help him search for Whitney. Coming across the now abandoned Camp Crysal Lake, the pair encounter Jason but manage to narrowly escape. Unbeknownst to them, Jason is aware of their presence, having set a series of traps throughout the woods, and sets out in pursuit, determined to kill anyone who invades his territory!
TRIVIA: Although it's only been regarded as a remake of Friday the 13th (1980), it also combines story elements from Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) and Friday the 13th Part III (1982), along with several references to Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986), and Jason X (2001).
Top: Campers (L-R) Mike (Nick Mennell), Whitney (Amanda Righetti), Amanda (America Olivo), Richie (Ben Feldman), and Wade (Jonathan Sadowski) accidentally camp on the grounds of the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake...
Above: ... and meet Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears)!
New Line Cinema's Toby Emmerich first approached Platinum Dunes producers Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form about remaking Friday the 13th in the same way they restarted the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. The producers agreed and spent over a year obtaining the film rights from Paramount Pictures and Crystal Lake Entertainment — the latter run by Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham. Originally, Paramount owned the rights to the series after the original was released in 1980 but sold the rights to New Line Cinema in the early 1990's after poor box office returns of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989). New Line bought the rights to the characters of Jason Voorhees and Pamela Voorhees, the Crystal Lake name, and the trademark for the title "Friday the 13th", while all footage from the first eight films and the remake rights for the first film remained the property of Paramount - New Line Cinema would go on to release Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), Jason X (2001) and Freddy vs. Jason (2003). After a protracted legal process, Paramount executives gave Platinum Dunes producers a license to use anything from the original films, including the title provided Paramount was given the rights to distribute the film internationally (New Line retained U.S. distribution rights).
The character Jason Voorhees was re-envisioned as more territorial-like hunter, someone who doesn't kill people at random but will defend his territory from anyone invading it, and includes a backstory that allows the viewer to feel a little sympathy for him, but not enough that he would lose his menace. And unlike both horror remakes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Amityville Horror (2005) — which were also produced by Bay, Form, and Fuller — it was decided that Friday the 13th would not be a period piece, with the filmmakers feeling that since the film was not strictly a remake there was no reason they could not set the story in the 2000s.
In October 2007, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the writers of Freddy vs. Jason, were hired to write a script for Friday the 13th. Originally conceived as an origin story, the project evolved into a re-imagining of the first four Friday the 13th films. To give the story a more a gritty, 1980s feel, Shannon and Swift imposed some rules based on their experiences of writing Freddy vs. Jason on themselves; distance themselves from self-referential slasher films such as Scream, and avoiding, as the writers explained in a 2009 interview before the release of the film, what they considered "the Scooby-Doo cliché where it's a bunch of kids trying to figure something out". Unlike previous films where Jason appeared to come out of "thin air", the writers developed the idea where Jason traveled via a series of underground tunnels. That concept was in Mark Wheaton's original script, but Swift and Shannon claimed to have never read Wheaton's script until the film was finished, having come up with the same idea about the tunnels on their own (as for the marijuana plant farm which Jason appears to use to lure teenagers into traps, apparently no writer can claim that as their own - that was actually director Marcus Nispel's idea from early on in the development process, and it was Swift and Shannon's job to work it into the script).
The character Jason Voorhees was re-envisioned as more territorial-like hunter, someone who doesn't kill people at random but will defend his territory from anyone invading it, and includes a backstory that allows the viewer to feel a little sympathy for him, but not enough that he would lose his menace. And unlike both horror remakes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Amityville Horror (2005) — which were also produced by Bay, Form, and Fuller — it was decided that Friday the 13th would not be a period piece, with the filmmakers feeling that since the film was not strictly a remake there was no reason they could not set the story in the 2000s.
In October 2007, Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the writers of Freddy vs. Jason, were hired to write a script for Friday the 13th. Originally conceived as an origin story, the project evolved into a re-imagining of the first four Friday the 13th films. To give the story a more a gritty, 1980s feel, Shannon and Swift imposed some rules based on their experiences of writing Freddy vs. Jason on themselves; distance themselves from self-referential slasher films such as Scream, and avoiding, as the writers explained in a 2009 interview before the release of the film, what they considered "the Scooby-Doo cliché where it's a bunch of kids trying to figure something out". Unlike previous films where Jason appeared to come out of "thin air", the writers developed the idea where Jason traveled via a series of underground tunnels. That concept was in Mark Wheaton's original script, but Swift and Shannon claimed to have never read Wheaton's script until the film was finished, having come up with the same idea about the tunnels on their own (as for the marijuana plant farm which Jason appears to use to lure teenagers into traps, apparently no writer can claim that as their own - that was actually director Marcus Nispel's idea from early on in the development process, and it was Swift and Shannon's job to work it into the script).
[door knocking through town, handing out Missing posters]
Clay: I want to ask you if you, uh- if maybe you'd seen somebody...
[holds up flier of Whitney]
Clay: It's my sister. She came up around here with some friends and... she's gone missing.
Old Lady: She ain't missing.
[pause]
Old Lady: She's dead.
Clay: [taken aback] Excuse me?
Old Lady: People go missing around here, they're gone for good. Outsiders come, they don't know where to walk. They bring trouble. We just want to be left alone. And so does he.
[refers to Jason]
Top: In the aftermath of the Crystal Lake massacre, Clay (Jared Padalecki)comes looking for his missing sister, and has a run in with Trent (Travis Van Winkle) and his girlfriend Jenna (Danielle Panabaker) who are heading to a lakeside cabin with their friends (Above) (L-R) Chelsea (Willa Ford), Bree (Julianna Guill), Lawrence (Arlen Escarpeta), Chewie (Aaron Yoo), and Nolan (Ryan Hansen).
Jonathan Liebesman, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) - which was also produced by Platinum Dunes - was once in negotiations to direct the film. But due to the lengthy legal delays in production he became unavailable, and the producers decided to bring back Marcus Nispel who directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). Nispel was apprehensive about taking the job, mainly because he would be taking over another film franchise, but Fuller eventually persuaded him to direct the project.
Fuller and Form said the casting process for Friday the 13th was more difficult than that for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre because thirteen young actors were involved in Friday the 13th, as opposed to five in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The pair continually recast roles to find which actors worked best together, with the recasting process lasting until the start of filming. First to be cast were Amanda Righetti and Jared Padalecki as sister and brother, Whitney and Clay Miller. Righetti had stated that she not read the full script when she was offered the role of Whitney, but accepted regardless since wanted to be part of the Friday the 13th franchise from the start. Padalecki, who was on hiatus from shooting his hit TV series Supernatural, describes Clay Miller as a real hero because he sets out "to do the right thing" when his sister goes missing, and goes about it as a "lone wolf" who wants to take on the responsibility alone.
Stuntman Derek Mears was first approached to portray Jason Voorhees at the recommendation of special make-up effects supervisor Scott Stoddard. Ironically, before the producers contacted him, Mears had already heard about the production of a new Friday the 13th and had decided to start physical training so he could pursue the role, unaware that Stoddard and other industry professionals were suggesting him to the producers. However, the studio worried that Mears' pleasant demeanor might affect his ability to portray a menacing character, but Mears assured them he was suitable for the role. According to Mears, "They were like, 'You're really nice ... are you going to be able to switch over, right?' I was like, 'I cage fight..and I've got a lot of dad issues. So yeah.'", Mears added laughingly. After being cast, Mears would be the eighth actor to portray the adult Jason Voorhees in the series, following Steve Dash, Warrington Gillete, Richard Brooker, Ted White, C.J. Graham, the legendary Kane Hodder (who portrayed Jason a record four times between 1988 to 2001) and Ken Kirzinger.
Fuller and Form said the casting process for Friday the 13th was more difficult than that for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre because thirteen young actors were involved in Friday the 13th, as opposed to five in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The pair continually recast roles to find which actors worked best together, with the recasting process lasting until the start of filming. First to be cast were Amanda Righetti and Jared Padalecki as sister and brother, Whitney and Clay Miller. Righetti had stated that she not read the full script when she was offered the role of Whitney, but accepted regardless since wanted to be part of the Friday the 13th franchise from the start. Padalecki, who was on hiatus from shooting his hit TV series Supernatural, describes Clay Miller as a real hero because he sets out "to do the right thing" when his sister goes missing, and goes about it as a "lone wolf" who wants to take on the responsibility alone.
Stuntman Derek Mears was first approached to portray Jason Voorhees at the recommendation of special make-up effects supervisor Scott Stoddard. Ironically, before the producers contacted him, Mears had already heard about the production of a new Friday the 13th and had decided to start physical training so he could pursue the role, unaware that Stoddard and other industry professionals were suggesting him to the producers. However, the studio worried that Mears' pleasant demeanor might affect his ability to portray a menacing character, but Mears assured them he was suitable for the role. According to Mears, "They were like, 'You're really nice ... are you going to be able to switch over, right?' I was like, 'I cage fight..and I've got a lot of dad issues. So yeah.'", Mears added laughingly. After being cast, Mears would be the eighth actor to portray the adult Jason Voorhees in the series, following Steve Dash, Warrington Gillete, Richard Brooker, Ted White, C.J. Graham, the legendary Kane Hodder (who portrayed Jason a record four times between 1988 to 2001) and Ken Kirzinger.
[After the camp counselor decapitates Pamela, a Young Jason approaches the body, picks up a photo-locket]
Pamela Voorhees: [voice in Jason's head] Jason. My special, special boy. They must be punished, Jason. For what they did to you. For what they did to me.
Pamela Voorhees: [Young Jason picks up the machete, walks away] Kill for mother.
Top and Above: The many faces of Jason Voorhees - wearing his burlap sack mask, before donning the iconic hockey mask!
Effects artist Scott Stoddard described his look for Jason's face as a combination of Carl Fullerton's design for Friday the 13th Part 2 and Tom Savini's design for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Stoddard's vision of Jason included hair loss, skin rashes, and the traditional deformities in his face. Stoddard tried to craft Jason's look so it would allow more human side of the character to be seen. Mears was required to wear full body make-up from the chest upwards while performing as Jason. The actor wore a chest plate with fake skin that would adjust to his muscle movements. He wore a hump on his back to give the impression that Jason had scoliosis. A prosthetic eye was glued to Mears' face to show realistic eye movements. Stoddard initially spent three-and-a-half hours applying the make-up to Mears' head and torso. He was eventually able to reduce the required time to just over an hour for scenes in which Mears wore the hockey mask. For scenes in which Jason's face is revealed, it took approximately four hours to apply the make-up. For the iconic hockey mask, Stoddard was inspired by the third and fourth films in the series. Using an original mold, Stoddard made six new versions of the mask. He said, "Because I didn't want to take something that already existed. There were things I thought were great, but there were things I wanted to change a bit. Make it custom, but keep all the fundamental designs. Especially the markings on the forehead and cheeks. Age them down a bit. Break them up."
Although Nispel is a proponent of practical effects, Asylum Visual Effects were approached to digitally create some shots to protect the actors and to allow the director to achieve a specific look. One of the first scenes Asylum was given was the scene depicting the death of Amanda, in which Jason ties her into her sleeping bag and hangs her over a campfire. The risk to the actor and the surrounding woodland was deemed too great to physically perform the scene. Asylum created a composite of two shots to show Amanda burning to death in her sleeping bag. Instead of creating a computer generated (CGI) model of the campfire, a real campfire was filmed. Asylum compositor John Stewart blended that footage with shots of the hanging sleeping bag into a single shot. Stewart digitally altered the flames to keep continuity between frames. Asylum also enhanced some of Jason's signature machete kills. In several scenes, the company used a computer-generated machete because Nispel wanted to show multiple characters' deaths in one shot instead of cutting from the acts of murder to the aftermath of their deaths. In one scene, Jason kills Richie by slamming a machete into his head. Instead of using a real machete with a fake head, Nispel had Feldman act dead as Mears pulled a handle—with only a portion of the blade attached—away from Feldman's head. Then, Asylum digitally created the rest of the machete blade to complete the effect. For this scene, Asylum adjusted the actor's facial expressions to create a "post mortem" look. The special effects team digitally drooped half of the actor's face to appear as though the nerves had been severed by Jason's machete.
Although Nispel is a proponent of practical effects, Asylum Visual Effects were approached to digitally create some shots to protect the actors and to allow the director to achieve a specific look. One of the first scenes Asylum was given was the scene depicting the death of Amanda, in which Jason ties her into her sleeping bag and hangs her over a campfire. The risk to the actor and the surrounding woodland was deemed too great to physically perform the scene. Asylum created a composite of two shots to show Amanda burning to death in her sleeping bag. Instead of creating a computer generated (CGI) model of the campfire, a real campfire was filmed. Asylum compositor John Stewart blended that footage with shots of the hanging sleeping bag into a single shot. Stewart digitally altered the flames to keep continuity between frames. Asylum also enhanced some of Jason's signature machete kills. In several scenes, the company used a computer-generated machete because Nispel wanted to show multiple characters' deaths in one shot instead of cutting from the acts of murder to the aftermath of their deaths. In one scene, Jason kills Richie by slamming a machete into his head. Instead of using a real machete with a fake head, Nispel had Feldman act dead as Mears pulled a handle—with only a portion of the blade attached—away from Feldman's head. Then, Asylum digitally created the rest of the machete blade to complete the effect. For this scene, Asylum adjusted the actor's facial expressions to create a "post mortem" look. The special effects team digitally drooped half of the actor's face to appear as though the nerves had been severed by Jason's machete.
TRIVIA: Adjustments were made to the filming schedule to accommodate Aaron Yoo, who portrays Chewie. Yoo had his appendix removed shortly before filming began, and could not film his scenes immediately. As soon as Yoo was ready for filming, Nispel immediately hung him upside down from some rafters, exposing the staples over his surgical wound for the character's post-death shot.
Top: Director Marcus Nispel with Danielle Panabaker and Jared Padalecki;
Above: Panabaker and Jared Padalecki filming a scene with Derek Mears.
Released at 3,105 theaters (the widest release of any Friday the 13th film) on Friday, February 13, 2009, Friday the 13th grossed an impressive $20 million on its first day - immediately exceeded the combined box office grosses for Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), Jason Goes to Hell (1993), and Jason X (2002) - and grossed over $45 million at the box office in its four-day President's Day weekend opening. And with its eventual $65 million gross at the North American box office, Friday the 13th is the highest-grossing film among the recent slasher remakes, which comprise When a Stranger Calls (2006), Black Christmas (2006), Halloween (2007), Prom Night (2008), and My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009). In addition to its North American box office gross, Friday the 13th also grossed over $26 million in foreign markets, making a total worldwide gross of a little over $91 million, making it also the most financially successful film in the series.
However, Friday the 13th received mostly negative reviews from critics during its theatrical run. Alonso Duralde wrote that the film should please slasher fans, but that it added nothing new to the genre or the franchise and would not appeal to people who did not like slasher films. Duralde criticized the film for adding a black and an Asian character in an attempt to "update the movie for the new millennium". He also said the prospect of another Friday the 13th—crafted by the film's "sequel-friendly" ending—did not leave him with a feeling of dread. USA Today's Claudia Puig said that the film keeps to the same formula as its predecessors, with a story that adds little to nothing to the franchise. She also said Padalecki and Panabaker filled their lead roles well, and that Aaron Yoo's comic relief made him one of the most likable characters on screen. In contrast to the film's detractors, The New York Times's Nathan Lee said Friday the 13th managed to "reboot the concept" of the original films with style. Lee said the film takes pleasure in killing off each of its characters, that there is a desire among cinema-goers for this type of material, and that Friday the 13th satisfies that desire, while Adam Graham from The Detroit News said the film is the most effective and scary film in the Friday the 13th series; he praised its choice of allowing Jason to run after his victims—as opposed to slowly walking behind them, as became prominent in later sequels—because it made him more menacing. Graham also said the film does not "soften" Jason's scariness by providing a sympathetic backstory.
On October 1, 2009, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that they planned to release the Friday the 13th sequel on August 13, 2010. Although Warner Bros. subsequently announced on December 10 that the sequel had been pulled from the August 13 release slot and is now listed as "TBD" (to be determined). After nearly a year of no further news, Fuller announced on his Twitter page that a sequel to the 2009 remake was no longer in the works, declaring it, "dead — not happening". In a later interview, Fuller further explained that the making of the 2009 remake was a joint effort by Paramount and New Line, who both own portions of the Friday the 13th franchise, but with the economy down, both studios are limiting the films that they produce each year, opting for lower risks and higher rewards. Form also included that since neither studio wants to walk away from the production of a sequel and have it perform well without their involvement, thus making them look like "idiots", the chance of having one studio being the primary producing house was rejected. Form and Fuller also mentioned that the Friday the 13th sequel may be a 3‑D film, should it ever be green-lit for production. After a number of false starts, Paramount finally announced on February 6, 2017, that the sequel has officially been canceled due to the low box office grossings of Rings, with the release date of October 13, 2017 instead going to the upcoming film, mother!.
However, Friday the 13th received mostly negative reviews from critics during its theatrical run. Alonso Duralde wrote that the film should please slasher fans, but that it added nothing new to the genre or the franchise and would not appeal to people who did not like slasher films. Duralde criticized the film for adding a black and an Asian character in an attempt to "update the movie for the new millennium". He also said the prospect of another Friday the 13th—crafted by the film's "sequel-friendly" ending—did not leave him with a feeling of dread. USA Today's Claudia Puig said that the film keeps to the same formula as its predecessors, with a story that adds little to nothing to the franchise. She also said Padalecki and Panabaker filled their lead roles well, and that Aaron Yoo's comic relief made him one of the most likable characters on screen. In contrast to the film's detractors, The New York Times's Nathan Lee said Friday the 13th managed to "reboot the concept" of the original films with style. Lee said the film takes pleasure in killing off each of its characters, that there is a desire among cinema-goers for this type of material, and that Friday the 13th satisfies that desire, while Adam Graham from The Detroit News said the film is the most effective and scary film in the Friday the 13th series; he praised its choice of allowing Jason to run after his victims—as opposed to slowly walking behind them, as became prominent in later sequels—because it made him more menacing. Graham also said the film does not "soften" Jason's scariness by providing a sympathetic backstory.
On October 1, 2009, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that they planned to release the Friday the 13th sequel on August 13, 2010. Although Warner Bros. subsequently announced on December 10 that the sequel had been pulled from the August 13 release slot and is now listed as "TBD" (to be determined). After nearly a year of no further news, Fuller announced on his Twitter page that a sequel to the 2009 remake was no longer in the works, declaring it, "dead — not happening". In a later interview, Fuller further explained that the making of the 2009 remake was a joint effort by Paramount and New Line, who both own portions of the Friday the 13th franchise, but with the economy down, both studios are limiting the films that they produce each year, opting for lower risks and higher rewards. Form also included that since neither studio wants to walk away from the production of a sequel and have it perform well without their involvement, thus making them look like "idiots", the chance of having one studio being the primary producing house was rejected. Form and Fuller also mentioned that the Friday the 13th sequel may be a 3‑D film, should it ever be green-lit for production. After a number of false starts, Paramount finally announced on February 6, 2017, that the sequel has officially been canceled due to the low box office grossings of Rings, with the release date of October 13, 2017 instead going to the upcoming film, mother!.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 25%
_____________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment